One of the most frustrating aspects of clothes shopping online is having to return something because it doesn’t fit. Sizing varies enormously between brands and, having spent years as a fashion designer, Aideen Bodkin was more aware of the discrepancies than most.
When Covid disrupted fashion retailing in 2020, Bodkin signed up for courses in design thinking for sustainability at UCD and a certificate in digital entrepreneurship at TU Dublin.
Inspired by what she was learning, Bodkin began mulling over an idea for a new business which has since become Sizible, an AI-powered tool for fashion retailers that matches customer measurements to a brand’s sizing to ensure the perfect fit first time.
“I spent over 20 years in high-end ladies fashion and, in recent years, I’ve watched in horror as fast fashion and overconsumption have become normalised. Over 50 per cent of global online garment returns stem from incorrect fit and this fuelled my commitment to create an innovative sizing solution,” Bodkin says.
Online shopping has contributed significantly to the intensive purchasing of low-cost clothing as, for some retailers, it’s cheaper to absorb the cost of a return than to take garments back.
“Returns are a hassle for consumers but also expensive for the retailers processing them. By minimising waste and optimising purchasing decisions, Sizible helps retailers boost sustainability and cut operational costs,” Bodkin says.
Sizible was formally established in March last year and is currently on pilot with two Irish retailers. The company is starting with sizing for womenswear, with menswear to follow.
“Sizible sits on a retailer’s existing website and when a customer is shopping, they can press a button that asks them for three key measurements for women and four for men.
“The system then matches their measurements to a brand’s sizing,” says Bodkin, whose previous experience of designing bespoke uniforms for CityJet crew underlined how difficult it can be to standardise fit because of different size labelling across Europe.
“Smaller retailers generally use generic size charts that don’t cater for differences in the brand fit, which can vary according to cultural differences that affect height and body shape.
“Size labels can also be very misleading so we ignore them and map someone’s real measurements to the correct size in the brand they’re looking at.
“With no sales assistant to help them with sizes online, we hope Sizible can replicate the in-store experience,” says Bodkin, whose company has been participating in a Trinity College executive MBA programme, in which a group of students is assigned to help the company plan its scaling-up strategy.
Bodkin doesn’t have a tech background but she knew enough to recognise that some sort of AI-based tool was the way to go. As luck would have it, she met IT veteran Patrick Brennan while they were both on the New Frontiers programme at TU Blanchardstown and they joined forces.
“Patrick is a technical genius and he said that if I could come up with the dream, he could build it,” Bodkin says.” It took us about 18 months to get all the pieces in place at a cost of around €150,000 to develop the MVP [minimum viable product] and our first market-ready product. We were approved for PSSF [Pre-Seed Start Fund] funding by Enterprise Ireland last August.
“Some larger retailers have built solutions for their own websites, but this excludes many brands and is not available to other independent retailers. There are also sizing apps on the market but most focus on previous purchases or brand fit and don’t consider body type,” Bodkin says.
The Sizible system is suitable for retailers of all sizes who will pay a monthly subscription to use the sizing tool. The subscription rate is based on the number of stock taking units (SKUs) a company sells and this will form the backbone of the revenue model, supplemented by commission on Sizible-assisted sales.
